Wanted (Amanda Lance) - By Amanda Lance Page 0,101

eyes that bugged out at me, surrounded by all of his pudginess. I couldn’t even begin to imagine hurting either of them, let alone being angry or vengeful enough to even have those thoughts.

“Are you feeling well, Addie?” Elise crossed her legs and swayed her feet against the divan.

“Yes, um…I’m fine.”

“May I ask you something a little personal?”

I nodded, only imagining the other wide assortment of questions she must have been asking herself. I had, after all, neglected to mention to Ben Wallace’s comment about his wife and son. But Elise seemed like an intelligent person—she had to wonder if she and Ty were also in danger.

“Why are you here exactly?”

“I’m sorry for imposing,” I offered. “It was never my intention to be a bother to anyone.”

She waved me away. “Oh please! You’re no bother at all, besides it’s nice to have company. I meant why did you come along with the boys after the ship got to port? I have a vague idea of what happened from what Benjamin told me, and the news, but I’m still not entirely sure I understand…”

“I wanted to be with Charlie,” I cut in, “and he wanted me with him. I didn’t really think much beyond that.”

She lit up with excitement. “Awesome! I’m so glad!”

“Huh?”

She put the baby down in the bassinet and strolled to the dresser.

“Well,” she brought back over a hand brush and a few other items I couldn’t see. “Benjamin said a couple of days ago that Charlie was completely undone by you, but frankly, I just didn’t believe him. I’m glad that not only was he right, but you seem to be quite taken, too.”

“A couple of days ago?”

She sat behind me and began brushing my hair. “Um hmm…I think it was Wednesday morning before the ship left for Singapore.”

The information left me feeling stranded. Charlie and I had only first laid eyes on each other the day before that. Had Ben been exaggerating, or was it possible that Charlie loved me long before I knew I loved him?

“It was the same with Benjamin and me,” Elise confessed. “I was working for a catering company in Chicago, and one night, when we were working this big benefit bazaar, Benjamin and Yuri crashed the event, trying to gauge security for a shipment they wanted to steal the next day. When he left three days later, he asked me to marry him and I said yes.”

She clasped a barrette in my hair. “It all sounds pretty romantic, but it was really pretty stupid,” she admitted. “I don’t regret it, though. They say you should try to live without regrets, but if that were the case, life would be boring, wouldn’t it?” She giggled a little.

I tangled with my thumbs. “I think you’re probably a lot more adventurous than I am.”

“Not from what I hear. Is it true you spent the night in one of the holds?”

I was a little surprised to hear Elise would know about that. She seemed too feminine to understand the ins and outs of the ship.

“It wasn’t exactly intentional. I was really being an idiot about the entire thing.”

She sighed and clasped another barrette in my hair. “Love does that to everybody.”

I laughed awkwardly as I tried to guess Elise’s age. Although she appeared young in some aspects, she was also wise in some very distant ways. I guessed based on her skin and style choice that she couldn’t have been older than her mid-twenties, but maybe associating with criminals distorted the aging process.

From somewhere downstairs, Polo’s hyena laugh echoed.

“I swear,” Elise sighed. “You must have the patience of a saint to put up with those boys all week. I love them all, but geez.” She pointed her thumb downstairs. “Polo especially gets on my last nerve.”

I laughed. “They’ve grown on me. Wh-when you first knew Ben did any of the guys ever give you a hard time about it?”

Her back stiffened then and her face turned into a frown. I thought maybe she didn’t understand; or worse, I had offended her. But then she broke out into a light, cynical laugh. “You mean Reid, don’t you?” she snorted.

“How did you know?”

She turned serious for a moment and stopped to consider her words. “He can’t help the way he is. And I think after everything else, he’s just cautious about all of the possibilities… and those potential liabilities.”

“Does he think you’re a liability?”

Her voice tightened. It was the closest she had yet come to being angry. “Tyler